AUSTIN - A panel of community activists, prosecutors and a juvenile prison official will review the records of nearly all youth inmates to make sure their sentences haven't been extended unfairly, officials announced Friday.

Advocates for Texas Youth Commission inmates and their families have complained that sentences are often extended for capricious reasons or in retaliation for filing grievances.

TYC special master Jay Kimbrough said the panel will review the documentation on each inmate's sentencing extension and discuss whether the decision was just and appropriate. The panel will make a suggestion to a retired judge, who will decide whether the inmate should be immediately released.

"I have no confidence in the integrity of that entire system," Kimbrough said.

Associated Press

Texas Youth Commission special master Jay Kimbrough meets with the media Friday at the Capitol in Austin. A panel of community activists, prosecutors and a juvenile prison official will review the records of nearly all youth inmates to make sure their sentences haven't been extended unfairly, officials announced Friday.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed Kimbrough early this month to root out corruption at the Texas Youth Commission, which incarcerates about 4,700 offenders ages 10 to 21 who are considered the most dangerous, incorrigible or chronic.

Kimbrough said about nine in 10 of those offenders have had their sentences extended, so hundreds, if not thousands, of inmates could be released as a result of the review.

Unlike adults who are sentenced to prison for a specific amount of time, juvenile offenders are civilly committed to the TYC until their 21st birthday. They can win an earlier release by serving a minimum amount of time - nine months or one year for most offenders - and progressing through four levels of academic, behavioral and therapeutic benchmarks.

Once inmates meet those goals, they must appear before a committee of facility officials that approves or denies parole. The average inmate stayed 20 months in 2006, according to the agency's annual report.

The concern is that employees who evaluate an offender's monthly progress toward those goals have the power to knock the inmate down a level for little or no reason, effectively extending their stay in TYC until they can earn that level back and progress to the next ones. Additionally, employees on the parole committee could deny their release for nearly any reason.

A 2005 Texas Ranger report at the heart of the scandal includes several allegations of retaliation against students at the West Texas State School in Pyote, where two officials were accused of having sexual contact with inmates.

For example, one student who resisted the assistant superintendent's sexual advances said he'd threatened to keep him at the school until he was 21 if he didn't comply. And a school employee said she'd seen the assistant superintendent refuse to release a student even though his case worker "had documentation to prove the student had more than adequately completed the program."

"We all know there are cases where sentences need to be extended," Kimbrough said. "But if that's not clearly documented then these people ... need to be out of this system."

The six-member review board will include representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the League of United Latin American Citizens, Kimbrough said.

Will Harrell, executive director of the ACLU in Texas, said he knows of one inmate whose sentence was extended for having contraband - an extra pair of socks.

"That's a dysfunctional system and we have evidence of that," he said.

The Kimbrough-led evaluation of the TYC has produced nearly 1,100 new investigations, officials announced Friday. That includes about 200 cases involving sexual misconduct between employees and offenders and another 200 involving staff on offender physical assaults.

The evaluation also uncovered 13 outstanding misdemeanor warrants against TYC employees, including one for assault with bodily injury. Agency officials said investigators were trying to apprehend the employee with the assault warrant, and the others were being told to turn themselves in.

Investigators also were looking at 111 employees who had faced felony charges at some point in their history.

Also Friday, the superintendent of the TYC intake facility in Marlin was arrested on charges that he lied to a Texas Ranger about whether there were allegations of sexual assault at his facility.

Jerome Parsee was charged with making a false statement to a peace officer, a class B misdemeanor punishable by up to a $2,000 fine and up to 180 days in jail.

The Associated Press could not find a telephone number for Parsee.

Additionally, the agency announced it was taking steps toward firing its deputy general counsel and the man who directs the office that investigates abuse claims. Ray Worsham, the investigator, was accused of redacting information in documents related to the investigation. He had previously been suspended with pay.

Commission spokesman Jim Hurley said he did not have details on the reason for firing the deputy general counsel. The agency's general counsel and deputy executive director resigned earlier this week in lieu of termination.